What is the PBA Tour?
Professional bowling's circuit, founded in 1958 by Eddie Elias with a first season in 1959, and owned since 2019 by the company now trading as Lucky Strike Entertainment. The 2026 season is its 67th. It runs sixteen singles title events — eleven standard and five majors — plus doubles and team events, with events tiered for points so that majors count triple.[1] [2]
| Season | Pool / Format | Host cities |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | World Champ: EJ Tackett — a 4th in a row | TOC Alex Horton · Players Brandon Bonta · US Open P. Dombrowski |
| 2025 | Player of the Year: EJ Tackett (3rd straight) | TOC Jesper Svensson · Players Ethan Fiore · US Open Tackett |
| 2024 | World Champ: EJ Tackett | TOC Marshall Kent · Players Bill O'Neill · US Open Kyle Troup |
| 2023 | World Champ: EJ Tackett | TOC Jason Belmonte |
Recent seasons — the major champions and season honours.
The five majors
The PBA Players Championship, the U.S. Open, the USBC Masters, the PBA Tournament of Champions — invitational, open only to past title winners — and the PBA World Championship, contested inside the World Series of Bowling. All five paid a $100,000 first prize in 2025 and 2026, and all five final rounds air on network television.[1] [3]
How does a bowler get on tour?
Membership first: a 200-plus average over at least 36 games in the previous year, or cashing in a PBA Regional or an open Tour or PBA50 event. Then the field splits. An exempt field of roughly 55 — the top 43 from the previous season's points list plus twelve PBA Tour Trials qualifiers — receives free entry to tour events. Everyone else enters through a pre-tournament qualifier held immediately before most stops. Beneath the main tour sit the PBA Regional Tour, where most members actually compete, plus the PBA50, International and Jr. circuits.[1] [2]
Where it stands now
EJ Tackett has dominated the era — three straight Player of the Year awards through 2025 and an unprecedented fourth consecutive PBA World Championship in June 2026. The 2026 season also produced four first-time rookie winners, a first in PBA history. The Fox television contract ended after 2025; the CW now airs ten live Sunday final rounds and CBS carries the World Series of Bowling.[2] [3]
References
- PBA — PBA Tour. Accessed August 2026.
- PBA — 2025 season review. Accessed August 2026.
- PBA — Professional Bowlers Association. Accessed August 2026.